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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 2021)
ANDREW CUTLER Publisher/Editor KATHRYN B. BROWN Owner WYATT HAUPT JR. News Editor JADE McDOWELL Hermiston Editor SATURDAy, JAnUARy 9, 2021 A4 Founded October 16, 1875 OUR VIEW Tip of the hat, kick in the pants A kick in the pants to the ever-widening divisions in America that led to an angry mob overrunning our nation’s Capitol as members of Congress fled for their safety. The images captured by photojournal- ists who stayed behind are startling. A man flies a Confederate flag in the halls of the Capitol — something many Ameri- cans died to prevent during the Civil War. Others take selfies in the seat occupied by the vice president before he was rushed out of the room minutes before, and a man puts his feet up on the Speaker of the House’s desk, a crumpled American flag tossed haphazardly behind him. We don’t know if any local residents were there. But what we do know is that one look in the comment section of the East Oregonian’s Facebook page and other local social media shows the same divisive rhetoric and lies inflaming the violence at the Capitol is also present in Eastern Oregon. Far too many people here see half (or more) of their own fellow Americans as an enemy that must be defeated. It is not too late to work on healing the rifts in our nation and in our communi- ties, but it’s not something our leaders can legislate away. Strengthening our country and bringing the “united” back to United States will take hard work by everyone. A tip of the hat to those working to help Pendleton’s unmanned aerial systems range continue its growth. Despite the pandemic, Darryl Abling, the UAS range’s manager, said operations in 2020 were up compared to 2019, and he expects the range to set new records in 2021. Jobs at the range are currently at just under 100 positions, and future growth there means future growth for the entire community. A tip of the hat to Althea Huesties- Wolf, an educator from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reserva- tion who rewrote the curriculum for the CTUIR’s GED program. Huesties-Wolf incorporated a wide variety of literary genres and multicul- tural topics and improved the structure of the course with additional flexibility and assessments to determine the readiness of students to take the GED exam. She is working hard to provide a rich, quality education to students whose life circum- stances took them outside the traditional path of a four-year high school education. We appreciate her efforts, and wish her students the best of luck in their endeav- ors after they leave her class. EDITORIALS Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. LETTERS The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. SEND LETTERS TO: editor@eastoregonian.com, or via mail to Andrew Cutler, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 YOUR VIEWS Coronavirus rules have no rhyme or reason Here are a few observations I have noticed. Oregon invented the mail-in ballot. Ever since the mail-in ballot there has not been a Republican gover- nor elected and the same for every blue state that uses mail-in ballots. Also, their state legislators have reduced the Republican representatives. Hum. Just saying. Gov. Kate Brown allows corpo- rate America to be open, but not small entrepreneurs, which will effectively wipe out the middle class. Her coronavi- rus tracing never finds out if a shopper at Macy’s contacted COVID-19, only industries. Macy’s can have 75% capac- ity, but restaurants must shut down. One should ask her tracers how many cases came from restaurants. Walmart is essential, dope stores are essential, and of course liquor stores. All public servants are still work- ing, however, when one calls a state office one can wait up to one hour to speak to a real person or one can leave a message and four hours later, they call back. One example (game commission): “Due to the volume of calls your wait time will be approximately 20 minutes. You can leave a brief message with your name and telephone number and we will return you call in the order it was received.” If I had stayed on the phone for 20 minutes, I would have gotten faster service than waiting four hours for a returned call. Protesters to Gov. Brown’s draconian rules in Salem get the bum rush, but the protesters in Portland get kid gloves. Effectively, the mayor of Portland and our governor have lost control of a once- great city. The elites have rules for you, but not me. That is why the French Revolution took place. I foresee the pitchforks and scythes coming out soon. Oregon is 48th in the nation for education, and now 40% of the students are failing. Over 1,000 student suicides in Oregon. That is a record to be proud of, Gov. Brown. Do not bother with the Oregon Supreme Court if one has issues with the laws the governor broke, because it is just a little left of Cuba. Roesch Kishpaugh Pendleton Not all bad news Most of what we read about COVID- 19 is bad news. The daily body count, the new more dangerous strain, the fear of contracting or spreading the virus, and the devastating economic shut- downs. While all this is real and news- worthy, we are missing some important and optimistic developments that might lift our collective spirits. Firstly, the vaccines are here, are effective, and soon will be available to all. The current administration should receive credit for Operation Warp Speed, and our pharmacological compa- nies should be honored for their incredi- ble scientific diligence in developing the vaccine in response to a world crisis. Secondly, we have therapeutic drugs available, which have shown great effi- cacy in fighting the disease. Anti-viral drugs, such as Remdesivir and other anti-inflammatory medica- tion,s are being used routinely to lessen the symptoms of the virus. Lastly, we can sense that our economy will soon fully reopen. If teachers, front-line workers and elderly folks can be quickly vaccinated, then there is no reason the country should remain in perpetual lockdown. We need the media to accen- tuate the positive news so that 2021 begins with some much needed opti- mism. Bill Eddie Bend CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES U.S. PRESIDENT Donald Trump The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Comments: 202-456-1111 GOVERNOR Kate Brown 160 State Capitol 900 Court Street Salem, OR 97301-4047 503-378-4582 U.S. SENATORS Ron Wyden 221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg. Washington, DC 20510 202-224-5244 La Grande office: 541-962-7691 Jeff Merkley 313 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 202-224-3753 Pendleton office: 541-278-1129 REPRESENTATIVES Greg Barreto, District 58 900 Court St. NE, H-38 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1458 Rep.GregBarreto@state.or.us Greg Smith, District 57 900 Court St. NE, H-482 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1457 Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us U.S. REPRESENTATIVE Cliff Bentz 1239 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 202-225-6730 Medford office: 541-776-4646 SENATOR Bill Hansell, District 29 900 Court St. NE, S-423 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1729 Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us